- - What is an sqrl?
(https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/846393-what-sqrl.html)
himespau
09-14-12 07:02 PM
Originally Posted by eyeomegasquared
(Post 14732426)
Yeah, I give up on knowing what sqrl means. There is too much misinformation. But I read it aloud as a sequence of letters: S-Q-R-L. So according to section 10.9 of the Chicago Manual of Style, it is proper to use the article "an" rather than "a" for preceding sqrl.
From CMoS: 10.9“A,” “an,” or “the” preceding an abbreviation
When an abbreviation follows an indefinite article, the choice of a or an is determined by the way the abbreviation would be read aloud. Acronyms are read as words and are rarely preceded by a, an, or the (“member nations of NATO”), except when used adjectivally (“a NATO initiative”). Initialisms are read as a series of letters and are often preceded by an article (“member nations of the EU”). See 10.2; see also 7.44.
an HMO
a UFO
Yeah, but it's not pronounced as a string of letters. That's the root of your problem. You're reading/pronouncing it wrong. You're looking at it like it's an acronym or something. It's not. It's just an shortening where all the vowels were removed from squirrel (also one r was removed). It's still pronounced like "squirrel" (because it rhymes with "girl", get it? - the guys trying to be sneaky who invented it did a great job). And as such, you use "a" rather than "an" as your indefinite article, just like you would with NATO or any of the many other acronyms/abbreviations where you pronounce the shortening as the word it resembles/spells rather than spelling out the words. If you were talking about NAACP, I would agree with you, but for abbreviations that you pronounce as words rather than spell most grammar guides will tell you to go back to using the "does it start with a vowel sound or a consonant sound?" rule and you'll find that, as it starts with a hard "s" sound, you should use "a". Oh and everyone who tries to say "an history" should be slapped silly repeatedly until they learn their lesson. That neologism sounds ignorant and drives me batty and needs to stop. If you're from regions of the UK where "h"'s are not pronounced, I'll let it slide, but so many reporters have started using it hear in the US where we do pronounce the hard "h" and those suckers deserve an upper decker of epic proportions (like from nasty beer ****s).
This **** could have gone on for days. We could have had something really special here, like the zerospeed-chop thread. Instead, some dumbasses have to ruin it.
I'm taking my ball and going home. You guys really sqrl'd this one.
